Single Premiere: Brick Road - "It's Sunny In The Morning"

Brick Road is the new solo project of Edmontonian Ethan Bokma. His debut album, Songs Of Peace And Happiness, will be released independently on August 21st, both digitally and on cassette.

Bokma has become a fixture in Edmonton’s experimental/drone/free-jazz scene. As the founder of Saw-whet Records, he has dedicated serious time and effort to putting out records from incredible experimental acts including: Nebular Wave whose album Chicxulub was featured as a “Pick Of The Week” earlier this year, and also Holy Drone Traveller’s impressive 2019 debut (a band of which Bokma is a member). Saw-whet Records takes the time to truly highlight their releases with ultra limited runs of LPs, often with handmade jackets.

His debut as Brick Road however, will not be released through his label but rather independently. An impressive statement to the acts on his roster that he won’t place his work over theirs. Bokma aims to make Brick Road an entity for his solo work that he plans to play live with a band. With most his past releases being improvised, the prospect of Bokma creating a live show around songs his listeners can get to know is an exciting prospect (hopefully one day we’ll get to have gigs again!)

When asked about the creation of Songs Of Peace And Happiness, Bokma explained:

“A lot of the material for Songs Of Peace And Happiness comes from shelved ideas and recordings which have existed for years now. It mostly lingers in the territory of drone, minimalism, psych, etc; all in a combination of composition and improvisation.”

Cups N Cakes also pressed him about inspiration for the album:

“There would be an exhaustive list of inspirations for this album but one that I would like to point out is Laraaji's 'Bring On The Sun' album which a bundle of ecstatic sound (also, that album joyous cover!) I wanted to make something that flows with that wave of positivity.”

Bokma continued:

“All of the shit I release is, admittedly, put out with some uncertainty. That's not the case with Songs Of Peace And Happiness. Guess I'm finally on the right path to that sound I'm looking for."

As big fans of Bokma’s musical work and label work, the Cups N Cakes Network is ecstatic to give you the first single from Songs Of Peace And Happiness, entitled “It’s Sunny In The Morning”. Enjoy the track below and mark the album release date of August 21st on your calendar.